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Originally Posted by kuromitsu
He's pretty special, isn't he.  I think it's not that he sticks out because he's so boisterous, it's more like we didn't get to see him enough in the show to get used to him and his creepiness. (Not that he has a bigger or different role in the book, but for obvious reasons he's more "in place" there.) In any case, I think the point is that someone so blatantly confident in his superiority gets taken out by the same lowly bakenezumi he was playing with, on a festival that was held because he dismissed Hiromi's concerns about the village's safety. |
That makes perfect sense actually. I hadn't thought about it that way. Now that I think about it he did have quite a few red flags flying over his head. Such an ignoble death
I wonder why we weren't given more time to get to know his character. All of the others on the council were introduced or at least shown at earlier points in the series. It's not that important because he wasn't a major character, but I would have liked to have seen him a bit more. I do love the crazy-eyed characters, haha.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kuromitsu
really. It's a random woman, presumably someone he loved once. I think the point was how beautiful and fragile the mirage was (Saki is like "and then a giant Rei woman appeared and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen"), to underscore the "holy" aspect of humans and the "monster" aspect of the bakenezumi. (Maybe.) But since things like this tend not to work in anime, I think they should've just cut this part...
ETA: Sorry, I just noticed, you were asking about the mechanics? It's just a mirage. Earlier on Satoru explains to Saki that the "ghosts" of Maria & Co. she saw were born out of her strong feelings of wanting to see them, projected on the water. Presumably the same thing happened with Koufuu, either with a woman he loved, or as an artist "releasing" his creativity or something like that. |
Ah, thank you. When he died and released his spirit with the words "may you see beauty . . . " I found myself wondering whether everyone saw the same woman or not. Perhaps everyone saw something different depending on what they consider to be beautiful. I should think the latter is more probable if, as you pointed out, it is a mirage.
Although I rather like the idea that everyone saw something different depending on what they wanted to see I think it's a bit troublesome. Why should he have a special death scene? We've seen other cantos users die and none released their cantus in such a way. I agree with you that they probably should have cut this part out. At this stage the series should be working toward answering questions rather than raising new ones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kuromitsu
She does in the anime, too... It's just that recently with all the "Saki LOVE!" it's like Mamoru became a non-entity. Sure, he was never a central character or anything, but seriously, come on. |
I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. It almost begs the question of why even bothering including Mamoru if they're going to reduce his character to such an extent. At this point he's scarcely more important than Reiko. I rather liked his soft-spoken cautious personality because it was a nice counterpoint to the others. I think they've done a great injustice to his character.